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Green Apple is a global movement to put all children in schools where they have clean and healthy air to breathe, where energy and resources are conserved, and where they can be inspired to dream of a brighter future.Learn more »

Making Green Schools Less Extraordinary

October 24th, 2012

Walter Cuculic, National Manager of Home Builder Programs and USGBC Board Member

One of our customers recently wrote us to share a fresh perspective on sustainability—from her son. From his perspective, the solar panels on their roof are the norm, and he seems genuinely puzzled if his friends’ homes don’t have them as well. To him, solar panels are as much a part of modern life as TVs and refrigerators.

There’s an important lesson here. A cleaner, healthier world shouldn’t be an alternative to the norm; it should be the norm. And nowhere is this more urgent than in our schools where millions of children currently learn in severely dilapidated buildings that pose a threat to their health, safety and education.

The Green Apple mission is as basic as it is vital: “Put children in schools where they have clean and healthy air to breathe, where energy and resources are conserved, and where they can be inspired to dream of a brighter future.”

Hear, hear. SolarCity has completed or undertaken more than 200 solar projects for U.S. schools, community colleges and universities. We’ve seen children thrilled to speak at ribbon cutting ceremonies for their school’s solar installations, and we’ve seen schools rehire teachers and revive school programs with savings to their electric bills. We’ve even seen schools work their solar installations directly into the curriculum, using our real-time SolarGuard monitoring system to allow students to track the systems’ energy production.

As a national leader in clean energy services, we strive each and every day to make clean power affordable and accessible for homes, schools and communities across the country—so that clean power is not seen as something for the Jetsons family but rather something for all of us.

We’re proud to partner with the USGBC’s Green Apple and look forward to working together to make green schools less extraordinary. We hope you’ll join us.

Walter Cuculic, National Manager of Home Builder Programs and USGBC Board Member

The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council is making sure every student has the opportunity to attend a green school within this generation. The Center works directly with staff, teachers, faculty, students, ambassadors, elected officials and communities to drive the transformation of all schools into sustainable places to live and learn, work and play. centerforgreenschools.org